One of the joys of craft beer is creating original labels and unique names. Brooklyn Lager of New York created their original label by requesting the designer of "I ♡ NY," Milton Glazer, to create a label with a B shaped “like rising bubbles from beer.” The label behind the beer was a part of their popularity and success. By the way, Glazer told Brooklyn Lager, “If you give me stock shares and beer for life, the design is on the house.” And that’s how they got their logo design for free.
Let’s take a look at the label and naming of the brewery, 10ants. Their signature beer is “THE Fourth Dimension - Blue Label,” with a fitting deep blue label on the bottle. Anime characters are supposedly a recurring motif in their beers.
Blue Label has a younger sibling “Yellow Label,” and there are other beer names such as “No Bitter,” and “I’m G,” each with their secrets hidden on the labels. Looking for and finding these clues is a fun part of the drinking experience.
The owner says, “THE Fourth Dimension Blue Label is the defining work of 10ants.” It’s a session IPA characterized by its milky texture and strong aroma.
The philosophy behind 10ants' attempt to turn anime characters into beer is in pursuit of “liberation from stereotypes.” “In Japan, beer is the drink when you don’t know what else to order, but the waiter is already at your table and everyone else has ordered. In other words, it’s not enjoyed to its fullest extent. I want people to realize the potential of beer and experience nursing a glass of IPA or pairing it perfectly with a meal. We must free beer from its current stereotype.”
The motif of THE Fourth Dimension Blue Label is a theme the Japanese people are familiar with from Doraemon, where a collection of secret tools could appear whenever you want them. That is the essence of 10ants in a nutshell. When asked, “What does craft beer mean to you?” he responded with the following:
“The definition of craft beer is very vague. If you call a beer made with craftsmanship a craft beer, you are basically calling every, beer a craft beer. Brewing is always done with craftsmanship, regardless of the equipment or technology used in the brewing process, or the size of the brewery. I wish we’d get rid of the term ‘craft beer’ entirely and simply recognize it as what it is-- ‘beer’.”
When you look at it that way, the word “craft beer” may also be stuck in its own stereotype. 10ants is constantly working to overcome this hurdle and continue making quality “beer.”
